Appeal No. 2005-0655
Application No. 09/896,505
It is not disputed that Dolati teaches, or would have
suggested, a structural member responsive to all of the
limitations in claim 1 except for the one requiring each flange
to have a margin member juxtaposed its respective leg member. As
indicated above, the “margin members” of Dolati’s flanges 31 and
35, i.e., inwardly directed portions 31c, 35c, terminate in
longitudinal edges 31d, 35d which are spaced from their
respective leg members. To cure this shortcoming, the examiner
turns to Seccombe.
Seccombe also discloses a rolled metallic member for use in
the construction of roof trusses. In general, the member
consists of “a web 9 comprising the central zone of the original
strip and two hollow flanges 10 and 11 respectively formed from
the edge zones of the strip excluding their edge margins” (column
4, lines 1 through 4). Seccombe teaches that
each hollow flange is formed from an edge zone of the
original strip. Each such edge zone is returned on
itself as the strip is roll-formed to form a hollow
flange, and the free edge margin of the edge zone is
held flatly against one side of the central zone of the
strip between the edge zones. The contacting areas are
secured together by fastening means, either
continuously along a longitudinal line of the member or
intermittently at spaced intervals along such a line,
so that each hollow flange is a substantially complete
tube and the structural member's web, being composed of
the central zone and the edge margins of the original
strip, is, at least in part, of double thickness. This
construction results in a structural member, when
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